Home Recording Equipment for Your Starter Studio

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I’m going to suggest a few pieces of home recording equipment for you to start a studio at home. But unlike a lot of other articles out there doing the same thing, I’m going to get you going (more than 90 percent of you any way) for well under $10. I’m taking it as a given if you’re reading this (that’s the 90 percent part) that you have a computer with a sound card and an internet connection. The only thing I’ll assume you need is a microphone of some kind. But you might be surprised at my recommendations on that score.

The first thing you’re going to need to do with a new home recording studio is learn how to use it. And guess what? You can learn to do all audio recording basics with a $5.00 PC microphone. In fact, depending on what you will be using your studio for (voiceover only, for example), the audio quality you get from your “training” studio may be sufficient. It’s mostly about technique than gear, and by using the right techniques, even with the cheapest gear, can yield some very surprising audio quality.

Your actual recorder will be a piece of software that is amazingly powerful for the price….which is “free.” That’s right. A program called “Audacity” is available for download from the web. It’s open-source and well-nigh ubiquitous now. So there is lots of support and information for it.

If your plan is to record music, you probably won’t be satisfied with the quality of a PC mic into a factory sound card. So does that mean you have to move immediately to an expensive mic costing hundreds of dollars? Absolutely not. In fact, there is a massive quality improvement in sound quality just by springing for a USB microphone like the Samson Q1U USB mic for just around $49. I’d bet that a vast majority of folks starting their first home recording studio would need nothing more than this to create and produce professional quality audio.

So did you think you could get all the home recording equipment needed for a studio for only $30.00? It’s true. Combined with the video tutorials at Home Brew Audio, you have no more excuses for not creating and producing your own pro audio from home.